Of Banks and Ice Cream
by Sinister Spiders
Summary: When Fleur takes a job at Gringotts over the summer she meets a man who is curiously resistant to her charms and unaffected by her beauty. Written for the "How I Met You" Challenge.


**Of Banks and Ice-Cream**

_By Sinister Spiders_

Fleur Isabelle Delacour sat at the reception desk of the Curse Breaker's division at Gringott's Bank in Diagon Alley, London. Her sheet of silver blonde hair fell cascaded on her left side, obscuring her face as she tried to decipher the extensive employee handbook that a disgruntled Goblin named Nordok had thrown at her before he showed her to her desk.

"Read this, answer the owl post, and send messages off as they are needed. If you need any more information than that then you know where the door is, we don't waste our time explaining basic work to imbeciles." The goblin had grunted "You get a one hour for lunch at twelve and a tea break at three." He then glared at her.

"Merci, Nordok. 'ave a lovley day!" Fleur had responded with her most charming smile. To her surprise the Goblin snorted rudely.

"Just a tip," He said "don't bother trying any of your veela tricks on us, young lady- we Goblins don't fall for your glamour." And with that he had turned and hobbled out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Fleur made a conscious effort to close her mouth which had been wide with shock at the advice and fell down into her new office chair with an audible '_oof'_ of blue satin. Never had anyone been so rude to her! How dare he presume that she had been employing any type of magic on him! A goblin! He had not even thought to take her into the office and introduce her to the other staff members. Fleur shook her head and tried to dismiss her anger, eager to not let the blatant rudeness of the Goblin ruin her day.

Fleur growled and snapped the thick volume shut. She had taken this job in order to improve her English and it was hard enough having to speak the ridiculous language, let alone read it. She wondered how any English people managed to speak at all with their words all back to front. She was disrupted from her musings as the office door opened with a squeak of rusty hinges. She sat up primly and shook her hair back from her face.

A harried looking middle age wizard got halfway across the room before he noticed her and promptly dropped the cup of tea he was nursing, the contents spilling messily all over the floor and his feet. His face immediately went red as Fleur pulled out her wand and spelled away the mess, giving him a pitying smile.

"Bonjour!" Fleur said, smiling in with true delight. The man nodded awkwardly in response. "My name eez Fleur- I am working 'ere part time for zee summer!" She told him proudly, glad that her time at Hogwart's for the Triwizard Tournament had allowed her to practice her pronunciation of the clumsy English language.

"Em- nice to meet you Fleur!" He croaked with a polite nod before escaping through the door next to her desk. The next two hours Fleur spent trying to read the Employee Manual and were punctuated by various wizards and witches arriving at the Curse Breaker's office for work, the wizards often faltering in their steps when they saw her, the witches giving her dirty looks. A satisfied smirk had settled on her face as the earlier nastiness of Nordok was replaced by the usual awkwardness that people tended to display when they took in her natural beauty and charm.

A loud hoot sounded and Fleur looked up to see an owl flying through what she had previously thought was an ordinary portrait. She smiled as the majestic creature landed on her desk and held it's leg out for her. The parchment was an obscenely bright shade of red and the silver wax seal held the coat of arms of the bank. On the front it read; "_ATTN: WILLIAM WEASLEY. URGENT."_ Fleur gave the owl a quick pat before she used her wand to open the door a few feet away.

"If it eez urgent zen send it straight through, s'il vous plait!" She told the owl before it flew off in a flutter. She smiled with the satisfaction of a job well done and returned her attention to the book before her that outlined the security measures of the upper levels of the bank. Just as she translated the section on how vaults can only be opened if a Goblin held the key, the door that led to the Curse Breaker's offices swung open, the sudden noise startling her.

* * *

Bill Weasley burst through the door that led to the waiting room of the department with the red letter clutched tightly in his hands. The goblins had discovered a chizpurfle attached to an old invisibility cloak in one of the vaults. According to the letter the chizpurfle was going berserk; trying to find a witch or wizard to attach to in order to feed. Because there were no humans around, and chizpurfles did not enjoy feeding on goblin magic, it was getting very angry very quickly. It had already sent magical blasts throughout the vault it was in and the goblins had almost lost control of the situation. He had to find someone to send in as bait so he could kill it as it fed on them. None of the other Curse-Breakers were so daft as to walk into a situation like that.

"Iz everything alright?" A throaty, heavily accented voice asked from his left. He spun on the spot and came face to face with a beautiful young woman. Her sheet of blonde hair fell down to her waist and her sparkling blue eyes were looking at him questioningly. _Perfect!_ He thought to himself.

"Erm- no actually." He said and held up the red letter he was still clutching. "Biiiiiig problem down in the vaults." He said slowly, she nodded at him knowingly as it has been her who had ushered the owl through to him. "And," he continued, "I need you to come with me."

"Excusez-moi?" She asked, her perfect pout turning into a round 'o' of shock.

"Yes…" He said, wondering how best to lure her into following him and being his bait "They found a magical creature in one of the vaults and its kind is known to be drawn to beautiful women." He said and then grinned at her, she frowned at him in confusion "we have no one that even compares to your beauty in our office- I need you to come with me immediately." He saw her hands clench and she looked at him apprehensively. He felt a pang of guilt at using her so, but ignored it- he really had to sort this chizpurfle out before it escaped.

"But I 'ave a job to do!" She said gesturing at her desk and the empty waiting room, he shrugged.

"I'll tell you what," he said in a conspiratorial whisper "we'll leave the door open and the owls can find their own way in, eh?" She looked between him and the door uncertainly and he reached down and took her hand in his, her soft fingers warm against his coarse ones. "Now let's go! We've wasted enough time as it is!"

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Fleur sat on the floor in the middle of a room filled with mountains of gold. At the back of the room, the red-headed curse breaker crouched hidden by countless galleons with his wand, hopefully, at the ready. She could hear the shouts of the goblins ringing through the tunnels as they slowly herded the chizpurfle into the vault she was in. Her heart was racing and her palms were sweaty and she let out a string of French expletives under her breath. She couldn't believe that the red-headed man had dragged her down here to use her as bait! He hadn't told her that she would be used to lure a dangerous creature like a chizpurfle. She shuddered as she imagined the semi-transparent creature latching onto the perfectly smooth skin of the back of her neck as it tried to suck the magic out of her. She knew, of course, that you could only kill a chizpurfle while it was attached to a sentient being, but she was thoroughly outraged that she had been tricked into becoming its lunch. She let out a growl and cast an angry glance at the pile of gold that the arrogant man was hiding behind- and to think that she had found him attractive!

The clattering and clanging was just outside the room now and she was struggling to keep her breath in check. Finally, three goblins clambered into the rooms, one of them attempting to fend off white hot sparks of magic being shot at him. As soon as they entered the vault they split up as the magical assault continued. Suddenly there was silence, and the only clue Fleur had of the impending attack was a tiny black speck hurtling towards her.

* * *

"Incendio!" Bill hissed, pointing his wand at the tiny little black critter on the back of Fleur's smooth white neck. He shook his head and sighed, amazed that something so small could wreak so much havoc. As soon as he saw a thin tendril of black smoke rising from the miniscule creature he vaulted over the stack of coins he was hiding behind and ran over to her. Her head snapped up as she came back to consciousness and in a flash she stood up and spun to face him.

" 'ow dare you!" She screeched, her face contorted with rage making her look like a wailing banshee. Without warning a loud crack echoed through the vault as her hand came up and made positive contact with his cheek. He stumbled back shocked at the force behind her strike.

"Woah! Woah!" Bill said, one hand rubbing his cheek while be brought the other up in front of himself defensively "Settle down love, you are safe!" She glared at him angrily "I told you that you wouldn't get hurt and look at you- you're fine!"

She glared at him, her previously azure blue eyes now a steely grey colour, her beautiful features still tense with anger. After years of being disciplined by his mother her angry glare failed to make him cower in the slightest.

"Look," He said, putting his hands down and taking a step towards her "If I told you what it was you wouldn't have come down here!" He said "Plus- I knew what I was doing! Like I told you, there was no way I'd let it hurt you." In spite of his calm tone and soft smile her eyes narrowed.

"Tu es completement debile" She yelled, he raised an eyebrow questioningly, not understanding the graceful words that came out of her mouth, yet he knew that they were no compliment.

* * *

Fleur rolled her eyes at his uncomprehending stare. This man was infuriating! Not only did he draw her down here to be used as the bait for a magical parasite, but he didn't even have the decency to be apologetic about it. He hadn't even responded to her anger- normally most men would be on their knees begging for forgiveness by now.

"You think zink zat I could not protect myself?" She screeched angrily "I was a Triwizard champion!" She grinned in satisfaction as his smug expression fell and he scratched his head, unsure of what to say next.

"Well then," He said giving her an apologetic smile, "You'd think that you wouldn't make such a fuss about a chispurfle then!" His apologetic smile turned into a cheeky grin and she threw her hands up in outrage.

"You, monsieur, are incredibly rude!" She hissed before pushing past him violently and storming towards the door of the vault, not even gracing the nosey goblins with a glance before she pushed past them as well. As she sat on the cart, waiting to be transported back to the upper levels so she could get back to her desk, she heard the heavy footfalls of William hitting the stones, he stopped at the edge of the cart track and bowed his head.

"All right, all right," He said "Look- I'm sorry I didn't tell you- let me shout you lunch to make it up to you." He said and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"_Shout_ me lunch?" She asked, not understanding his strange turn of phrase, the language barrier only serving to further her rage.

"Erm- take you out for lunch… to make it up to you…?" He said with a shrug. She allowed her eyes to rake over him critically. Despite the tragic black tattered shirt that he was wearing tucked haphazardly into his pants, she had to admit that he was quite handsome. His shaggy red hair and fang earring framing a strong, handsome face. At the very least she should give him the opportunity to atone for his sins by taking her out for lunch. Perhaps he would be able to show her a nice café or restaurant.

"Fine," She huffed, shuffling over in her seat to make room for him.

* * *

Half an hour later, as Bill pulled out a seat at a table in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, Fleur looked around her in wonder. An ice cream parlour… for lunch? Although she had to admit that the place had a certain quaint charm about it, with the round tables shaded by pretty blue and white striped umberellas.

"So Bill," Fleur began as she took the menu in her hands "What would you recommend ozzer zen ze ice-cream?" Bill gave her an irresistible mischievous grin making her stomach flutter in response.

"Oh," He said innocently "did I forget to mention that they _only_ serve ice cream here?" Fleur's eyes widened in horror- this most certainly would not fit into her diet plan!

* * *

After their chosen ice cream sundaes arrived Fleur had to admit that she was impressed. Each came with some wonderful curly and star shaped sparklers stuck into them. The ice cream itself was the best she had ever tasted, and with Bill's strange resistance to her natural charms she found that the company was as good, if not better, than their "meal". Never before had a gentleman she had gone out with been able to resist her beauty. Normally they would stumble over their words or make fools out of themselves, but much to her surprise Bill Weasley was impervious to her charms. He held a good conversation, telling her all about his adventures in Egypt and the havoc he used to wreak with his six siblings. The company was so good that Fleur even stopped feeling bad about the number of calories she was consuming.

When they had finished their ice-cream Bill picked up the used sparklers, separated the curls from the stars, and put the stars in her bowl and the curls in his. They both stood to leave and Fleur noticed a long curly sparkler that had slipped off the table. She gracefully crouched and picked up the rogue sparkler before standing and throwing it in her bowl with the star shaped ones.

"No, that's where the curly ones go." Bill said taking it out and placing it his bowl, "You can't mix the stars with the curlies!" He said as if it were the most obvious fact in the world. Fleur looked at him with wide eyes- he had corrected her! He had bothered to correct her over something as trivial as which sparkler belonged where!

He gave her a small smile before turning and starting back towards the bank, after a few steps he noticed that she wasn't following him and turned to see what the problem was.

"Well, are you coming back or what?" He asked nonchalantly.

* * *

A/N: Written for the "How I Met You" challenge. The prompts were umbrella, calories, star and "No, that's where the curly ones go." This was my first ever time writing a character with a French accent so please forgive me if it is rough, or ignore any misplaced search-engine French Phrases!

Hope you enjoyed reading, please feel free to review.


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